


What Once Was Lost

by Kedreeva



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: After Forever, Everyone Is Alive, F/M, Fix It Fic, Gen, Happy Ending, Haven, Horror, Multi, The Void, Threegulls, Weirdness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2018-06-10 02:25:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6934432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kedreeva/pseuds/Kedreeva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another post-finale fix it, staying completely canon compliant this time.</p><p>Nathan, Audrey, and William traverse the Void to retrieve Duke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Once Was Lost

            It takes two weeks to find Duke’s will, but only because it was properly filed where it ought to have been, rather than at the bottom of the bay aboard the _Rouge_ where Nathan expects to find it. Gloria draws the short straw to go tell him Duke’s lawyer called the station looking for him because he hasn’t picked up his phone since they began to carve the skeleton of the _Grey Gull_ out of the coastline. She finds him lying on the hood of his car, hands behind his head, breathing to the measured pace of the spotty clouds he’s counting to keep calm.

            “You have to come back,” she tells him.

            He doesn’t see why. _They_ didn’t.

            He gets up anyway, even though it hurts, even though he doesn’t want to, because that is what Nathan is best at doing. Duke’s lawyer comes to the station the next morning and Nathan leaves with enough money to do whatever he wants with the rest of his life. It can’t buy him the only two things he wants, so he raises the _Rouge_ from the ocean floor instead, sets aside enough to repair it, and pours the rest into their town.

            Rebuilding the world takes most of his attention and he knows he should not be grateful there was so much _damage_ but he _is_ because he doesn’t know how he would have healed alone. But there are buildings and roads and infrastructure to repair and people to mend both physically and mentally, and all of it leaves him with only a little time to pick at all of his own raw wounds.

            Eventually, though, the repairs taper off and even if people still look over their shoulders or under their beds, the monsters are gone now. The sun shines and the birds sing and the breeze blows in off the ocean laden with the scent of summer water. These things don’t make any of it hurt less, but they do make it easier to bear, and Nathan is startled the first time he smiles again.

            Audrey comes back three days after that smile, wearing someone else’s personality and hauling a tiny child named James in her backseat. Nathan can hardly breathe, smiles and stutters and tells himself this can’t be a dream, she always comes back as herself in his dreams. He takes her into town and sees Audrey in everyone’s eyes as she introduces herself as Paige.

            It isn’t like when Audrey stepped out as Lexie, not quite; she’s not Audrey pretending, but Paige can’t keep her hold, maybe was never meant to take Audrey’s place. Audrey’s return isn’t a fight, either, not like it was with Mara. One day she is Paige, and the next she is Audrey again, and despite everything he has been through, Nathan is still human enough to feel sorrow at the loss. He cannot regret it, not with Audrey - _his_ Audrey - taking his hands in hers and pressing her forehead to his to assure him that she's back to stay.

            It doesn’t take her long to ask about Duke, and for a moment Nathan thinks she has forgotten. He explains to her that Duke is dead, stutters over telling her that he killed him and she watched, and she stops him in the middle with impatience reserved only for nonsense.

            “He’s alive, Nathan. I saw him,” she says, and six words is all it takes to turn Nathan’s world upside down yet again.

            It’s a dead end, at first- there is no way for them to get to anywhere Duke might be. He has left their world and taken the ability to cross over with him, and it is only when William turns up fresh from the Void six months later that they get any sort of lead at all.

            When they explain the situation, William laughs, but it is not the same kind of condescending, gleeful spite he might have once shown them. He is tired and broken, chased from his homeworld and left abandoned in an inhospitable world once again. He agrees to help them, if they will let him come along, if they will let him stay once it is over. Nathan tells him he will have a home here, in the haven he once helped to save. After all, he does qualify, Audrey tells William softly, as an orphan.

            So he helps. There is no more aether to use, not anywhere, but there is magic in the world yet. He tells them he is not skilled with using human magic, but that it is powerful, that it runs in their blood, that it is the reason he and Mara chose to work _here_ instead of settle in some other _there_.

            With their consent, he spills their blood, etches it into the hide of the _Rouge_ in scrawling sigils. The magic draws upon them in its forging, leaves them cold and weak, unable to defend themselves, but William keeps his word, and when the last blood sigil has been inked into her hull, they are released.

            Or at least, most of them.

            “You belong to her,” William tells them both, hands on the ship’s railing as he looks down at them on the dock. “Not all of you, not forever, but you are hers. She’ll take you where you need to go.”

            “She’ll take _us_ ,” Audrey says, and it feels good to see a genuine smile on William’s face.

            When she leaves him with Gloria, Audrey kisses James’ forehead the same way Sarah did decades before, but this time she promises she'll come back for him. They leave him behind because the Void is no place safe to go for any of them, but it connects one existence to another and the three of them must cross it if they want to retrieve their friend. She can ensure the safety of at least one member of her family while she crosses universes to save another.

            “How do we cross?” Nathan asks William as he nudges the _Rouge_ out of safe harbor toward the unknown.

            “You're not going to like it,” William tells him, and that turns out to be a fair assessment when he tears a vortex into the waves beneath them and plunges them through the ragged portal and into the Void.

            The _Rouge_ catches on nothing substantial, creaks and groans and shudders like she is sitting on water a hundred yards in the air. Nathan finds out he gets airsick while Audrey marvels that the ship obeys her directions as if alive, nearly plummets them to the ground when Rouge responds that she is alive here. That takes some getting used to, but they have a lot to do and Nathan already looks sick at being back here.

            “It didn’t look like this before,” Nathan says as he peers over Rouge’s side.

            “You came through at a thinny,” William says, shoulder to shoulder with him, watching the barren, torn wasteland skim by far below them. “Living worlds bleed through at the thin spots.”

            There is nothing alive here. There are moving things, things which are sentient, perhaps even sapient, but they are not alive, not quite _right_. There are pools of mirrors that stretch up toward them, brushing their hull and leaving Audrey and Nathan both feeling like someone has drawn spiderwebs across their skin. They pass a desert that swells and rolls like the ocean, and a forest made of tree spines that twist and breathe. Sometimes there is still sound in the world, sometimes there is only utter, terrifying silence, the sort that consumes sound the same way black holes consume light.

            William tells them he knows where they are going. Nathan isn’t sure that’s true, unless they are supposed to be taking long circles around a huge outcrop of shrieking rocks. He doesn’t have any better ideas, nor does Audrey, so they circle the rocks six more times until they find themselves enveloped in unending darkness.

            Nathan jumps when William touches his wrist, knows it must be William even though neither of them can see in the pitch that surrounds them. He opens his mouth to ask where they are, but no sound comes out, and it is then that Nathan notices the sound of _skittering_. He swallows his fear, pulls his hand from William’s grasp, and splays his hands on the deck beneath his feet.

            Rouge responds to his touch as readily as any lover ever has, the blood sigils on her hull flaring to life and casting them all in a hellish red glow. Shadows, long and thin and viscous, peel away from the ship to swirl angrily overhead in a roiling, crimson-lit mass, growing larger every second. The bottom drops out of his stomach as Rouge lists to the side to escape them, begins to dive toward where the ground ought to be. He hears William’s yelp a split second before the world bursts into light and color, and they are back.

            “What was that?” Audrey asks breathlessly from the cabin doorway.

            “The Void,” William says, skin pale and hands shaking. “That’s what’s really all around us, all the time. That’s what’s killing Nathan.”

            Despite the knowledge that the Void is all around them anyway, Audrey takes them away from where they brushed hides with oblivion. They stay closer to the ground, close enough to feel the heat from a river of fire, close enough to see a herd of scaled, golden creatures galloping across a rocky wasteland on clawed, cloven hooves and whose wails continue to rattle around long after they are out of sight. They stay so close to the ground that when they suddenly find themselves in a crystal forest, they do not see the abomination towering far over their heads.

            They see when it begins to walk, see the spiny, faceted tree trunks lift and shift around them and slam back into the ground hard enough it shudders Rouge’s deck in the air.

            They see when it bows a long, sinuous neck down to them, great maw full of obsidian-shard teeth and thousands of eyes the color of midnight oceans. An aether core of Charlotte’s design sits in its spun-glass chest where its heart should have been, and all of them recognize the damnable object without a word passed between them.

            “William,” it thunders, sending cascades of stones tinkling to the forest floor.

            “Oh no,” William says quietly, neck craned. He raises his voice. “I come in peace!”

            “Liar,” it responds, maw beginning to open wide enough to swallow their entire ship.

            Audrey reaches up with everything inside of her, latches her will onto the behemoth’s aether heart and _yanks_. It shudders to a halt, its thousands of eyes wheeling  wildly around to focus on her as it begins to glow, spines rising all over its crystallized hide. Audrey maintains, tightening her grip, and calls up to it, voice carrying loud and clear and unafraid.

            “We seek another like this creature,” she says, pointing at Nathan. “Can you help us?”

            Its pale eyes flicker yellow then red as it shifts to fixate on Nathan, a shrill noise dripping from its still-open maw. “Mortal,” it hisses, a twisted hint of laughter. “The Void hunts you; do you hear it?”

            Nathan just stares back, steadfast, until Audrey tightens her grip and repeats her question. Its eyes turn black, darkness spreading over its pelt until it stands out like a shadow against the pale rocks around them. Finally it closes its jaws, bending so close to Audrey she could touch it. She doesn't flinch.

            “ _His_ blood runs in your veins,” it accuses, voice grating and raw. Then it pulls away, lifting its head back to the sky. “But so does Hers. Yes, I will take you where you seek, Little Bird.”

            The air shimmers and burns around them and the crystal forest fades, turns into a display not unlike the Northern Lights of their home, and then it is gone and the behemoth with it.

            Rouge turns herself about, floating gently in a field of tall, purple grasses, as far as the eye can see. Above them stretches an endless amber sky, cloudless and unmarred by any celestial body. The air whispers with the undulating movement of the grasses, though no breeze exists to stir them. William shivers and draws their attention to the sallow, leathery hump of something traveling through the field in the distance.

            “That way,” he says. Rouge moves forward on his direction, even without being bound to him.

            They drift through field after field after field, following the rise and fall of the leviathan in the grass.  Even though Rouge can steer herself now, they take turns at her helm, talking softly or listening to her spin tales of her adventures with Duke. Nathan closes himself in the cabin for longer than the others, always looks wrung out afterward. Audrey doesn't ask, just presses herself into his side.

            “We'll find him,” she says.

            Her reassurance feels less genuine the longer they travel. There is no sun to mark their days, no landmarks to track their distance, only the eternal surfacing and diving of the faceless, leathery hide at their bow and the restless murmur of the grasses like water against the hull. Audrey begins to wonder if they have always been here, if they will always be here. William asks if they would trade having the Troubles back to leave. Nathan says there are worse Hells to be trapped in. Audrey doesn't answer. At least there is color here.

            At some point, the feathery sound of travel ceases and Rouge shudders to a halt, bobbing gently in the middle of a field full of green and orange flowers. Their guide floats at rest just yards to port, a sickly brown island carved with cracks and divets. A soft hum fills the air a moment before it submerges, disappearing from sight entirely. They look between themselves, uncertain if they should follow, if they _can_ follow.

            A bird lights upon a stack of equipment nearby, though none of them see where it came from. It shifts tallow-colored wings, staring at them with vibrant yellow eyes. Its unblinking gaze settles at last upon William.

            “Where mortals go, _you_ may not follow,” it tells him, voice like sizzling butter in a hot pan.

            “He’s with us,” Nathan says firmly, only doesn’t back up because he can’t make his legs work when it turns its attention to him.

            “He may not follow,” it repeats.

            “I’m not mortal,” Audrey argues, eyes narrowing. She stares right back when it looks at her.

            “You’ve died,” it says without inflection and both Audrey and Nathan flinch. “He may not follow.”

            They all exchange a look of trepidation, but there doesn’t appear to be a choice. There is no turning back anymore. Audrey reaches out to touch William’s arm. “We’ll come back for you.”

            “No,” he says softly, covers her hand with his only long enough to extract himself from her grasp. “You won’t. But it’s okay. I’m used to it.”

            She pulls him into a hug instead and he stiffens, unused to this kind of affection. Audrey whispers against his shoulder that he should stay with Rouge, that she will bring him Home even if it takes a long time. She has always brought her passengers home again. Hesitantly, he brings his arms up and hugs her back.

            When they pull apart, Nathan takes her hand and they face the bird together. It hops close to them and then it is holding a coin in its beak, waiting, and Audrey extends one hand to accept it. Nathan takes the second one, and as soon as it hits his palm, they find themselves inside of a cave, surrounded by a sickly green glow.

            There is only one passage out, so they take it without discussion, fingers threaded together. The tunnel dips and weaves and seems to go ever downward. From somewhere comes the sound of rushing, running water, too thick to actually be water, and above that an incessant clicking in intricate patterns. They both try not to think about what is making either noise.

            Hours pass this way, maybe days or weeks, before it abruptly ends at a wooden doorway. They trade a look, and Nathan tries the handle. It clicks open, and they step into Nathan’s house; or at least, what looks like Nathan’s house.

            Across the front room, lounging on the sofa, is Duke.

            “You made it,” he says softly as he clambers to his feet. There are sigils not unlike the ones painted onto the _Rouge_ carved into his skin, binding him to something- the room, or its owner, or this whole place, perhaps. He doesn’t seem particularly surprised to see them.

            “Better late than never,” Nathan says, crossing the distance between them to pull Duke into a fierce hug. Duke folds Audrey into the hug as well, laughter coiled up in his chest without quite escaping. She can feel relief trembling at his limbs, and hugs him tighter.

            “Now we just need a plan to get home,” Audrey says when they pull apart.

            “You don’t need a plan,” Duke says with a sly grin. “You’ve got me.”

            With that, he turns to the rest of the house, and the other two notice the low, growling noise which pervades the space all around them. “They came to get me. You said they couldn’t. I told you they would. Looks like I won.”

            The growling turns sour, raises the hair on their arms, on their neck, and then snaps off abruptly. “Name your terms.”

            “Send us home,” Duke says. “Back to our world.”

            “You may not leave,” it intones. “You are bound here by your death.”

            “You said anything I wanted,” Duke says, looking up at the empty space above them, and the air flickers in irritation. “You promised.”

            Liquid sound coalesces around them, angry, but the glowing sigils burning on Duke’s skin soften and fade. Before any of them can move, they find themselves wrapped in piercing sound, nerves alight, and when it ends, they are left standing naked in a field, twilight bruising the clear sky above them.

            “Asshole,” is all Duke will say about his Void warden’s cruel sense of humor.

            They pick a direction and begin to walk and four miles later, they learn they are in Russia- but it is _their_ Russia, in their world, and with enough phone calls they manage to make their way back to Maine. Gloria meets them at the airport with Vickie and Aaron and James and news about what has happened in the six months they've been gone. It's been only days for them, or maybe lifetimes, or seconds, it's difficult to tell anymore.

            Audrey curls herself around James in the backseat of Gloria’s car and puts her back against Nathan and her legs against Duke and tells them both they are, all of them, done now, if the world needs saving again it's not their job. Nathan and Duke share a smile over her head but find no cause to argue the declaration.

            Two months later, a crack like the sound of thunder wakes the whole town, and William sails back into port on the deck of the _Rouge_. Jennifer is with him, and Claire, and Dave, and Eleanor, and dozens of others who lost their lives to the trouble William had caused with Mara. Charlotte stands at her helm wearing a smile and commanding the respect of her crew of the dead. The previously dead, Jennifer explains, still holding William’s hand. It has been several lifetimes for them, and the Void that turns people into monsters sometimes turns monsters into people.

            “It's not a bus,” Charlotte tells Audrey when she steps onto the dock from the _Rouge’s_ well-worn deck. “And it's not all of them. But it's as many as we could find.”

            “It's okay,” Audrey says as she hugs her mother, looks over her shoulder at all the rescued orphans of the Troubles, and smiles. “It's enough.”


End file.
